Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, and the “Delay of the Parousia”

Abstract

Abstract This essay considers the scholarly theory of the imminence and delay of the parousia as it relates to Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles. According to some, the first Christians viewed Christ’s return as immediately impending, and when this did not take place, they experienced disappointment and then recalibrated the timing of the end to factor in delay. This chapter finds little evidence for the delay theory in Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles; there is nothing specific about the timing of Christ’s return. Additionally, scholars can exaggerate the evidence for imminent expectation in these letters, with insufficient accounting for the elasticity of nearness. Positively, the letters evince fruitful theological ideas of temporality, such as the incommensurability of divine and human time, the unrepeatability of the end, the relative extents of time before the end now and everlasting glory in the future, and the meshing of the present age and eternity.